What happened at the 5/1/18 Council meeting: ban on pet store selling any dog but pound pups passes, all other controversial bills deferred.

To follow along with the video you really need a program. To access the agenda, staff analysis of the agenda and my agenda commentary follow this link.

Reappointment of Ms Cynthia Chappell to Board of Zoning Appeal approved.
Following the prayer and pledge and the deferral of an inconsequential rule change which did nothing more than change the name of a committee, the Council moved to confirmation of mayoral appointments to boards and commissions. Usually these are routine and the council rarely rejects a nominee. The Council took the rare action of a roll call vote to reappoint Ms. Cynthia Chappell to the Board of Zoning Appeal.  The vote was 21 in favor, 5 no's, 4 abstaining and 9 not voting. Initially it was stated that her reappointment failed and it was stated that a confirmation required 27 votes. That was then corrected and it was announced that confirmation simply requires a majority and she was in fact confirmed.

Ms Chappel is a five year veteran of the BZA. I watched the Rules Committee meeting to try determine why Ms Chappel's appointment was controversial. Apparently there was an email campaign to deny her reappointment due to the BZA voting too often in favor of Short-term rental appeals. Council member Jacobia Dowell also says that there is a feeling among some of her constituents that the Board lacks objectivity and that the Board favors the party that has attorneys to represent them, which is usually the developer as opposed to community members. It is also said that because Ms Cappel has a strong personality, she dominates the boards. The Committee recommended reappointment by a vote of 4 to 1.  To see the Rules Committee deliberations see timestamp  29:12 - 49:38 at this link.

There is one resolution and 14 Bills on Public Hearing. Here are the ones of interest:

Bill BL2018-1148 is a rezoning of 36 acres from various residential and industrial zonings to SP in the Baptist World Center Drive area. I am not going to try to understand the pros and cons of this issue so if you want to understand it you are on your on. It is a bill approved by the Planning Commission. There is considerable public comment and Council discussion. There is an attempt to defer the bill that fails. Even if deferred there would not have been a second public hearing. The bill passes on voice vote. To see the discussion see  timestamp 16:40 -53:21.

Bill BL2018-1157  which establishes a 50 foot floodway buffer along the Cumberland River and prohibits variances is deferred to the July public hearing. The sponsor also says their will be a substitute bill.

Resolutions. There are 26 resolution on the agenda. Most are lumped together and pass by a single vote on the "consent agenda."  There are several bill approving PILOT deals for affordable housing. They are not controversial and pass on voice votes. Here are the resolutions of interest:

Resolution RS2018-1158  is and an attempt to decouple the development of a soccer stadium from the location of the Fairgrounds. This resolution authorizes the city to issue bonds for construction of the major league soccer stadium but does not specify the location. There is an effort which I approve of to have the soccer stadium build in Metro Center instead of the Fairgrounds.  The staff analysis says there are several things wrong with this resolution.  If you want to know what they are click here. The owners of the soccer franchise say that building the stadium anywhere other than the fairgrounds would jeopardize the soccer deal. This resolution had a Budget and Finance committee recommendation at 7 opposed and 2 in favor. At the request of the sponsor it was deferred one meeting.

Resolution RS2018-1164 is a resolution approving $2 million  for the Election Commission to fund the special election of a mayor. Some Council members make the point that this was an avoidable expense if the Election Commission would have had the special election on May 1st which they could have done.  The Council is right; the Election Commission was wrong. Now, however the Council has no choice but to fund the special election.   The resolution passes on a voice vote.

Resolution RS2018-1165   is even more money for the Metro General Hospital money pit. It is half a million from the 4% fund for equipment and building repairs. It is deferred "by rule."

Resolution RS2018-1171  would continue the auto emissions testing program in Nashville even though the State says we may discontinue it. This needs to be defeated. It is deferred one meeting.

Resolution RS2018-1180  proposes three amendments to the Metro Charter, all related to the procedure for succession when a mayor leaves office prior to the end of his term. This is deferred one meeting.

 Resolution RS2018-1182  honors "James Shaw, Jr. whose heroism, prompt action, and selfless disregard for his own safety spared numerous lives" in the Antioch Waffle House shooting. This passes on the consent agenda.

All bills on First Reading are lumped together and pass by a single vote as is the norm including the bill to ban plastic bags. I had thought someone might take the unusual step of opposing this on first reading but no one did.

Bills on Second Reading: There are eleven. Here are the ones of interest: 

Bill BL2018-1056 would regulate the on-line market for Short term rentals, that is it

would regulate websites such as Airbnb.   It would require these sites to  require a Metro permit number for each STRP application prior to placing the property on the online marketplace site. It would also require the sites to provide a detailed quarterly reports to Metro. I would oppose this if I served in the Council. The development of the quarterly report could require new computer programs or lots of man-hours for the sites. While the staff analysis does not address the issue, I would like to know by what authority Metro has to require this of a company that is not physically located in Nashville and is simply a go between facilitating the interaction of people who want to provide a place to stay and people seeking a place to stay.  What if Metro required Airbnb to have agents who were locally licensed real estate agent? Could Metro do that?  What if Metro wanted to regulate online porn or wine sales or gambling, could Metro do that? If Airbnb simply ignores this law, what can the city do about it? How would they enforce it? The Internet does not stop at the county line. This is deferred one meeting.

Bill BL2018-1159 would prohibit pet stores form selling any cats or dogs except those obtained from the pound or other such animal rescue organizations. It would still allow Nashvillians to buy dogs from breeders but not pet stores, so if you want to buy any dog other than a pound pup, you will have to go to a pet store across the county line. This passes on a voice vote without discussion.

Bills on Third Reading:There are six. None of them are of much interest. Bill BL2018-1111 (as amended) would put under the purview of the Board of Ethical Conduct and the Standards of Conduct those who violate executive orders regarding rules of conduct. This was controversial when introduced but as amended, according to the staff analysis, this really doesn't do much.

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What's on the 5-1-18 agenda: Keeping Auto Emission testing, trying to move the Soccer stadium, taking property along the river. attempt to regulate Airbnb type websites, pet stores could only sell pound pups.

By Rod Williams - The Metro Council will meet Tuesday, May1, 2018 at 6:30 PM in the Council chamber at the Metro Courthouse.  If you are going to watch the Council meeting, you need a copy of the Council agenda and the staff analysis  or you really will not know what is going on. You can get the agenda and analysis at the highlighted links.

The order of business is the call to order, prayer and pledge. The next order of business on this agenda is a proposed amendment to Rule 3 of the Rules of Procedure of the Metropolitan Council. Rule three concerns the standing committees of the Council.  I do not know what is proposed. The agenda does not say. It is probably nothing very important.  The next order of business is consideration of mayoral appointments to boards and commissions. There are nine mayoral appointments to boards and commissions on this agenda for Council confirmations. These are all reappointments. The council normally rubber stamps whomever the mayor appoints. 

Public Hearing
There is one resolution and 14 Bills on Public Hearing. I do not even attempt to understand the pros and cons of every zoning bill and they generally bore me and are of interest to only the people in the immediate vicinity of the rezoning. At public hearings almost all opposition come down to (1) concern about traffic, (2) water runoff and potential for flooding, (3) overcrowding of local schools and impact on infrastructure, (4) detrimentally changing the character of the neighborhood. You will hear the same arguments over and over. I only call attention to bills that I think will have an impact beyond the immediate neighborhood or are bills disapproved by the Planning Commission or  for some other reason are of interest. Here is the only one of interest.

Bill BL2018-1157  establishes a 50 foot floodway buffer along the Cumberland River and

A House on a cliff on the Tennessee River

prohibits variances. The floodway is the river channel and adjacent low lying areas that would be underwater in a 100 year flood. No new construction could occur in this area and no existing building could be expanded. My initial reactions is opposition. Suppose within the fifty foot buffer, the property sit on a high cliff a hundred foot drop to the river. Should that property not be allowed to be developed?  That property could have less impact on the river than a property miles away.  Also, building in the area adjacent to a 100 year floodway does not add to the potential for flooding if displacement is applied. Displacement means that if any capacity for the land to hold water is decreased on one part of a parcel, then more capacity must be added elsewhere. As an example, if a home is build and near the front of the property, the lot is build up by adding so many cubic yards of dirt to a low area, then the same amount of earth would have to be removed elsewhere.

This would also appear to be a  "taking" property. If someone has a right to develop their property and that right is taken from them,  that is a "taking" even if the owner retains legal title. If property is taken the owner should be compensated and it should only be taken for a public purpose. The public purpose may be to reduce flood risk. That may be a valid public purpose, but the owner should be compensated if his land is now worth less because it cannot be developed. Also, there is a proposed development of a boat-oriented development along the Cumberland with canals and boat docks. This type of development could not occur if this rule was in place and if there were no variances permitted. 

There are 26 resolution on the agenda and all are on the consent agenda at this time. A resolution stays on the consent agenda if it passes unanimously the committees to which it is assigned. Resolutions which receive negative votes in committee are pulled off of consent. Also any councilman may have a resolution pulled off of consent. Those remaining on consent are lumped together and passed by a single vote. Resolutions on the consent agenda are usually not controversial and tend to be routine matters, such as accepting grants from the Federal or State Government, entering into inter-agency agreements over mundane things, appropriating money from the 4% fund, settling lawsuits, or approving signs overhanging the sidewalk. Unlike a bill which requires three votes of the Council to pass, a resolution only requires one vote of the Council. Here are the resolutions of interest: 

Resolution RS2018-1158  is and an attempt to decouple the development of a soccer stadium from the location of the Fairgrounds. This resolution authorizes the city to issue bonds for construction of the major league soccer stadium but does not specify the location. There is an effort which I approve of to have the soccer stadium build in Metro Center instead of the Fairgrounds.  The staff analysis says there are several things wrong with this resolution.  If you want to know what they are click here. I would assume this resolution will have to be substituted or deferred to correct the deficiencies, but don't know that.  The owners of the soccer franchise say that building the stadium anywhere other than the fairgrounds would jeopardize the soccer deal. 

Resolution RS2018-1165   is even more money for the Metro General Hospital money pit. It is half a million from the 4% fund for equipment and building repairs. A half million here and a half million there and pretty soon you are talking about real money. 

Resolution RS2018-1171  would continue the auto emissions testing program in Nashville even though the State says we may discontinue it. This needs to be defeated.

Resolution RS2018-1180  proposes three amendments to the Metro Charter, all related to the procedure for succession when a mayor leaves office prior to the end of his term. I think what occurred when Mayor Barry was forced to resign worked pretty smoothly and do not see the need for revising the charter, however it is no big deal. It will take 27 votes of the Council for this to pass and then the proposed changes would be decided in a referendum. If I had a vote I would vote "no" but might be persuadable.

Resolution RS2018-1182  honors "James Shaw, Jr. whose heroism, prompt action, and selfless disregard for his own safety spared numerous lives" in the Antioch Waffle House shooting.

Bills on First reading: There are 13 bills on first reading. First reading is a formality that gets bills on the agenda and they are not considered by committee until after they pass first reading. They are all lumped together and pass by a single vote except in rare circumstances. This is one of those rare occasions which if I had a vote I would vote against a bill on First Reading. The bill is Bill BL2018-1173  by Councilman Davette Blalock which would ban the sue of plastic grocery bags.

Bills on Second Reading: There are eleven. Here are the ones of interest:  

Bill BL2018-1056 would regulate the on-line market for Short term rentals, that is it

would regulate websites such as Airbnb.   It would require these sites to  require a Metro permit number for each STRP application prior to placing the property on the online marketplace site. It would also require the sites to provide a detailed quarterly reports to Metro. I would oppose this if I served in the Council. The development of the quarterly report could require new computer programs or lots of man-hours for the sites. While the staff analysis does not address the issue, I would like to know by what authority Metro had to require this of a company that is not physically located in Nashville and is simply a go between facilitating the interaction of people who want to provide a place to stay and people seeking a place to stay.  What if Metro required Airbnb to have agents who were locally licensed real estate agent? Could Metro do that?  If Airbnb simply ignores this law, what can the city do about it? How would they enforce it? The Internet does not stop at the county line. Could Metro ban gambling sites or porn sites from doing business in Nashville?  Could they ban advertising of wine for sale online?  Also, as noted in the staff analysis, Tennessee General Assembly has very recently enacted legislation that impacts the ability of local governments to regulate short-term rental properties. I don't know if that would apply since this is an attempt to regulate the websites not the properties, but it might. This bill needs to be defeated. 

Bill BL2018-1159 would prohibit pet stores form selling any cats or dogs except those obtained from the pound or other such animal rescue organizations. What! Have we gone nuts! Not everyone wants a pound pup. Some people want pure bred dogs. Bad bill. 

Bills on Third Reading: There are six. None of them are of much interest. Bill BL2018-1111 (as amended)  would put under the purview of the Board of Ethical Conduct and the Standards of Conduct those who violate executive orders regarding rules of conduct. This was controversial when introduced but as amended, according to the staff analysis, this really doesn't do much. 

To watch the Council meeting, you can go to the courthouse and watch the meeting in person or you can watch the broadcast live at Metro Nashville Network's Government TV on Nashville's Comcast Channel 3 and AT&T's U-verse 99 and it is streamed live at the Metro Nashville Network's livestream site and you can watch it live on Roku. You can catch the meeting the next day (or the day after the next) on the Metro YouTube channel. If can stand the suspense and just wait, I will post the video on this blog the day after or the day after that and provide commentary.

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Federal Gov. Obamacare slush funds pays for Nashville pet spaying

Obama anti-obesity “slush fund” paid for pet spaying

A controversial anti-obesity “slush fund” under Obamacare was used in Nashville, Tennessee to spay dogs and cats. The reasoning: stray dogs scare people from exercising outdoors. (link)

Let me see if I understand this: The federal government borrowed money from China and created this fund as part of Obamacare. The purpose of the fund was to fight obesity. The Federal Government gives some of the money to Nashville and Nashville uses it to spay and neuter cats and dogs? Could you explain that one more time?

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Earth Day goes to the Dogs- Kill the dogs; Save the Planet

I went to Centennial Park last weekend for the Earth Day festivities. I enjoy almost any event where there are lots of people enjoying themselves, and food and music. I am not hostile to environmentalist and consider myself a moderate environmentalist myself. Actually I prefer the term “conservationist” but no one uses the term conservationist anymore so unless you are for dirty air and dirty water, I think you have to be an environmentalist. I like clean air and clean water, oppose mountain top removal, I recycle and I have always loved nature. I want to preserve endangered species. I support efforts to preserve the natural beauty of my home state of Tennessee and the world. I respect those who are working to set aside beautiful vistas and natural wonders for future generations.

I am sure many environmentalists would not consider me one of them and that is OK. I am not a radical environmentalist. I am not opposed to economic growth or development. I think we can safely drill for oil off our coast lines and I support drilling in ANWAR. I support nuclear energy. I am not 100% certain that global warming is a reality. If it is a reality, I am not certain that it is caused by human activity. If it is caused by human activity, I am not so sure the change is happening as fast as Al Gore says it is.

I probably have one of the smallest carbon foot prints of anyone you will ever meet unless it is some environmentalist fanatic or a hermit. For a normal person, I have a very small carbon foot print. For one thing, I don’t spend a lot of money. I just don’t like a lot of stuff and I hate to shop. I'm frugal. I hate waste. I don’t know that this value is derived from an environmental ethic, it just seems shameful to throw out good stuff and buy more. I eat mostly fish and seafood, some chicken but very little beef. I live in a modest size older home without a lot of unused square feet. One way in which I am living an environmentally friendly lifestyle is that almost everywhere I go is less than three miles from my home and then I sometimes ride a bicycle. If you profess to love the earth and choose to live thirty miles from where you work, I think you are a hypocrite.

I see a lot of environmental hypocrisy and empty environmental symbolism. I know someone who while at college lived in the environmental dorm yet burned the road up with weekend trips home. Living in a normal dorm and giving up one round trip home would have probably made for a smaller carbon foot print. When the Nashville contingent of my family goes home to Knoxville, there seldom is any attempt to carpool among the liberal Al-Gore-loving environmentalist. Sometimes four cars will make the trip when we could have all crowed into one. They profess they would use mass transit if it was available, but I don’t believe them.

At Saturday’s Centennial Earth Day event there were a lot of normal looking people there but there was also a lot of people who I am sure live the environmentalist lifestyle. They wore tie-dyed tee shirts or shirts with earth-friendly slogans and sandals and the women had hairy arm pits. Most of these people also had big dogs. I don’t own a dog. I used to when I was growing up. I like dogs and I may have a dog again someday.

Maybe the environmentalist don’t know it, but having a medium-sized dog has the same impact on the environment as a Toyota Land Cruiser driven 6,000 miles a year, while a cat is equivalent to a Volkswagen Golf. I have a member of my family who is a strong environmentalist yet always has four of five big dogs. I don’t want anyone to actually give up their dog; I just don’t want them to feel morally superior until they do.

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